Topic 2: Representations of Youth in British Cinema

We have looked briefly at what constitutes 'youth culture' along with examples of some subcultures throughout the decades since the 60's.

First, add this information to your timeline. A brief reminder:
1960's: Mods and Rockers
1970's: Punks
1980's: New Romantics
1990's: Madchester
2000's: Chavs and Hoodies

The next job is to see how those subcultures have been represented in British films, historically. Time for a bit more individual research.

You will be given one of the following films to research:

1. Summer Holiday (Peter Yates)
2. To Sir, With Love (James Clavell)
3. Quadrophenia (Franc Roddam)
4. Gregory's Girl (Bill Forsyth)
5. Absolute Beginners (Julien Temple)
6. Sid and Nancy (Alex Cox)
7. Life is Sweet (Mike Leigh)
8. Get Real (Simon Shore)
9. 24-hour Party People (Michael Winterbottom)
10. The History Boys (Nicholas Hytner)

Please prepare a presentation or factsheet for the rest of the class including the following information:

• What is the plot?
• Does it star anybody famous at the time or who subsequently went on to become famous?
• When was it released?
• Is the story set in an earlier decade - i.e. is it retro?
• Following on from this, if it is set in an earlier decade, is it portraying a particular youth subculture; i.e. punks/mods/Madchester etc?
• Is popular music a major aspect of the film?
• How is it portraying young people?
• You will need to find a youtube clip of the film which illustrates any of the points you have just made.

Once you have collected information on all of the films, add this to your timeline too.

Case Study: 'This is England'

'This is England' (dir. Shane Meadows, 2006) is a brilliant contemporary piece of British cinema which you should study and be able to write about in the exam.

Your task will be to watch it in full, and then answer an essay question.

The following resources will be useful - make sure you copy/link to it:

• Michael Walford's 'This is England' blog at the University of Warwick has lots of information about the film and its social/historical context, as well as links to articles and reviews about the film.
• An interview with Shane Meadows on the BBC Film Network site about why he likes making low-budget films. Skip ahead to the 2min mark to listen to him talk about the making of This is England.
• What were the challenges he faced in creating the verisimilitude of the 80's setting?
• In this interview taken from the DVD, Meadows explains what he thinks about youth cultures in the 80s and today.
• What, according to him, were some of the appeals of belonging to a group such as the skinheads?